UK rioters,families to lose subsidised housing

Cameron took to the television studios on Friday,the third consecutive day of calm after the days of chaos that began last weekend,to broaden the “fightback” he has declared against the rioters,and against those who have argued that the blame should rest less with the rioters than with the abject social conditions in the neighbourhoods from which many of them came.

He has described the rioting as “criminality,pure and simple,” with no excuse in social deprivation,and laid out a controversial plan to make much broader use of existing powers to expel not only the rioters but also their families from the free or rent-subsidised accommodations that provide millions with cradle-to-grave homes.

“For too long we’ve taken too soft an attitude towards people that loot and pillage their own community,” Cameron said. “If you do that,you should lose your right to the sort of housing that you’ve had at subsidised rates.” He added that evictions “might help break up some of the criminal networks on some housing estates if some of these people are thrown out of their houses.”

Asked whether that would render them homeless,he replied,“They should have thought of that before they started burgling.”

The communities minister,Eric Pickles,a right-wing Conservative,was blunter still. Saying it was not time to “pussyfoot around” with the lawbreakers,he said he would begin a three-month consultation on ways to deal with what he called “riot tourism,” focussing on scrapping a rule that allows for the eviction from subsidised housing of people who commit crimes in their own neighbourhoods in favour of a broader measure that would allow for similar punishment wherever the offenses were committed.

Asked how those so penalised would live,Pickles responded,“They could get a job.”

UK man charged with robbing injured student

Metropolitan Police said Saturday they have charged a 21-year-old man,Reece Donovan,with robbing an injured Malaysian student whose video-taped attack during the riots drew outrage in Britain and beyond. Donovan has been charged with stealing a portable Sony Playstation and Nokia mobile phone from Mohammed Asyraf Haziq Rossli,while leaving him to bleed on the pavement.